Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1887-11-25

demnity limits, as each directly, or by
necessary implication, refers to the ad-
justment as provided for in the first sec
tion. The protection afforded and re
dress granted the settler by each of the sec
tions, is fully rs important in the indem-
nifty as in the primary limits. The linn
itation OF further certif1cation or patent
Ing combined in the seventh section, is
fully as important as, and of more practi-
cal value when applied to the Indemnity
limits, thar to the primary limits of the
grant. The fifth section liz a part of the
same scheme as the residue OF tho act.
The wrong done the settler who, in good
faith, shall have purchased land of the
railroad to which the company, by he
adjustment, is shown to nave no legal
right, is identical, whether the purchases
are in the Indemnity or primary limits.
The hardship he may be subjected to by
loss of his land, Improvements, and
labor, is the same in either
case. The whole scope of the law,
section, inclusive, is remedial. Its in
tent is TO relieve from loss the settler,
and bona fide purchasers who, through
the erroneous or wrongful disposition Of
the lands in the grants, by the officers of
SaS So'Sh 10Y -
lost their rights or acquired equities,
which injustices should be recognized.
That the section sold by the railroad
company shall have been approved, is not
required by the fifth section, nor that it
shall have been patented. That the land
shall have been approved TO the company
before the purchasers shall be entitled to
the benefit of the sixth section, is not re-
CURED. By the words of the act the
only requisite established to entitle those
wronged to its benefits is that they shall
be citizens of the United States, or shall
have declared their intention to become
citizens; that it shall have been sold to
them by q railroad company as a part of
its grant; that the land shall not have
been conveyed to or for the use of the
company; that the land shall be of the
numbered sections prescribed in the
grant and c~oterminus, with constructed
parts of the road, and that the purchas-
ers shall have bought in good
faith 1t was not intended
to limit the redress to cases
In which the railroad could
rightfully have sold the lands. The
whole remedial part passed with a recog-
milton of the fact that the railroad had
sold lands to which they had not just
Clhiul. Lie HUI hSCblbn expressly Tel6TS
to such lands as had been sold which had
not been conveyed to OF for the use of
such companies, 1t is not required that
the sale by the railroad companies shall
have been made on its part in good faith,
but only that the purchaser shall have
bought in good faith. That it was sold
under q claim OF the grant to another in
good faith, is the ground of his
equity. In order that the remedy may
be adequate to redress the wrong, the
word grant in the fifth section must be
construed to include, as it does in the
preceding sections of the act, both pri-
mary and indemnity limits. Very respect
fully,
"A. II. GARLAND, Attorney General
Upon receipt of the opinion Secretary
Lamar directed the commissioner of the
land Office to proceed at once, and with
as much dispatch as possible, to adjust
all land grants under the act of March 3,
1887. His Instructions to the commits
sioner are as to the details and in accord
ance with the views of the attorney gen
eral, as expressed in the foregoing optn-
ion.